Internet criminals are doing business like legitimate companies to successfully execute their work, according to the Cisco midyear edition security report.

The Cisco 2009 Midyear Security Report outlines how internet criminals execute their works through technical and business strategies to breach corporate networks, compromise Web sites, and steal personal information and money.

The midyear edition security report reveals online criminals are using SaaS, partnerships, other Enterprise Strategies to conduct attacks

“We see many signs that criminals are mimicking the practices embraced by successful, legitimate businesses to reap revenue and grow their enterprises.” said Tom Gillis, Vice President and General Manager, Cisco Security Products.

Online Criminals are increasingly operating like successful businesses, borrowing some of the best strategies from legitimate companies and forming partnerships with one another to help make their illegal activities more lucrative.

They are collaborating with each other, preying on individuals' greatest fears and interests, and increasingly making use of legitimate Internet tools like search engines and the software-as-a-service model. Some also continue to succeed using well-documented methods that in recent years have been downplayed as threats given the preponderance of new tactics, said Patrick Peterson, Cisco fellow and chief security researcher.

Cisco report also shows that criminals are exploiting old-school vulnerabilities because they believe security experts and individual computer users are paying little attention to these types of threats, compromising of legitimate websites for the purpose of propagating malware and targeting people who use online banking with well-designed and localized text message scams.

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